Quality of goods and services
Contents: 8 sections
What quality means
Quality means the good or service meets the standard the customer expects, every time. It is not the same as expensive. A cheap pen that writes reliably is a quality product, and a costly car that breaks down is not. Quality is judged against what was promised, which is why a budget hotel and a luxury hotel can both be high quality and both be low quality.
Why it matters to a business, and what the marks are attached to:
| Reason | What it does to the business |
|---|---|
| Repeat custom and loyalty | Customers who are not disappointed come back, so sales are steadier and less must be spent winning new ones |
| Reputation and brand image | Word of mouth and reviews bring customers in without advertising. One bad batch can undo years of it |
| Fewer faults, returns and replacements | Less material is wasted and fewer items are remade, so costs fall |
| A higher price becomes possible | Customers pay more for something they trust, which widens the profit margin |
| Competitiveness | Where prices are similar, quality is what is left to compete on |
| Meeting legal controls | Products that are safe and as described avoid fines, recalls and compensation |
Notice that every row is a chain rather than a fact. That is deliberate. An explain question wants the reason, the reference to this business, and then the consequence. "High quality is important because customers like it" stops one step too early. "Fewer faulty chocolates leave the factory, so fewer are returned and remade, which cuts the cost of wasted ingredients" reaches the consequence, and the consequence is where the third mark sits.
Quality control
Quality control means checking the product at the end of production, and sometimes at stages during it, and removing anything faulty before it reaches the customer. It is done by inspectors, whose job is to find faults.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Faulty goods are caught before customers see them, so reputation is protected | The fault has already happened, and the materials and labour spent on it are wasted |
| Employees do not need training in quality methods, because inspectors do the checking | Inspectors have to be employed and paid, which raises costs |
| It is simple to set up and to run | Checking every item is slow and expensive, so businesses often sample instead, and some faults get through |
| Works even where the workforce is unskilled or changes often | Employees feel no responsibility for quality, because someone else is paid to worry about it |
Quality assurance
Quality assurance means checking quality at every stage of the process against standards agreed before production starts, with each employee responsible for the quality of their own work. The aim is to prevent faults rather than to find them.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Faults are caught at the stage they happen, so less time and material is wasted on a product already ruined | Training everyone in the standards costs money and takes time before any benefit appears |
| Employees are trusted and involved, which motivates them | It relies on employees being willing and careful, and one who is not can let faults through unnoticed |
| Fewer faults reach the end of the line, so less has to be scrapped or reworked | It can slow production while employees check as well as work |
| Consistent standards support the brand and can justify a higher price | Setting up the standards and paperwork is a large change for a business used to inspection |
The two side by side
| Quality control | Quality assurance | |
|---|---|---|
| When it happens | At the end, or at set checkpoints | At every stage, as the work is done |
| Who is responsible | Inspectors | Every employee, for their own output |
| What it does about faults | Finds them | Prevents them |
| Where the cost falls | On wasted output and on inspectors' wages | On training, up front |
| What it needs | Little from the workforce | A trained and willing workforce |
Recommending one, and justifying it
0264 asks you to recommend one and justify the choice, so the question is never "which is better in general". It is "which is better for this business", and the answer comes from the stem.
- How costly is a fault that escapes? For food, medicines or anything a customer relies on for safety, prevention is worth paying for. For a low-value item easily replaced, inspection may be enough.
- How skilled and how stable is the workforce? Quality assurance needs employees who can be trusted with the standard. A business with high labour turnover and little training is not ready for it.
- What can the business afford now? Quality assurance costs money before it saves any, so a business short of cash may have to inspect for now.
- What is being made? Thousands of identical items on a flow line suit assurance built into each stage. One-off jobs are often checked by the skilled person who made them.
- What is the business competing on? A brand that charges a premium cannot afford faults reaching customers at all.
Then commit. Name the method, say why it fits this business, and say why the other one was rejected, without repeating a point you have already made. "Quality assurance is better because it prevents faults" is the analysis again, not a justification. "Quality assurance is better here because one contaminated batch would end the contract with the supermarket, and the training cost is small beside losing that customer" is a justification.
Quality in a service business
A service is produced and consumed at the same moment, so it cannot be inspected before the customer receives it. The faulty haircut has already happened. That pushes service businesses towards assurance: setting standards, training staff, then checking afterwards through customer feedback, mystery shoppers and complaint records. Consistency between branches is the hard part, because customers judge the whole business by the worst branch they visit.
Common mistakes
- Defining quality as expensive or luxurious. It means fit for purpose and consistent with what was promised.
- Saying quality control prevents faults. It finds them after they have happened.
- Saying quality assurance guarantees no faults ever reach the customer.
- Giving the advantages of quality without a consequence, so the analysis mark is lost.
- Forgetting that quality control still costs money, both in inspectors and in the wasted output it discovers.
- Treating training as free. It is the main cost of quality assurance and the main reason a business delays it.
- Choosing quality control or quality assurance and then justifying the choice by repeating an advantage already listed, instead of saying why it beats the other one for this business.
- Answering with a factory example when the business in the stem is a shop, a cafe or a service.
What the syllabus asks for on this topicSyllabus points
Syllabus points
- Explain what quality means and why it is important for businesses.
- Explain the concept of quality control.
- Explain the concept of quality assurance.
- Give the advantages and disadvantages of quality control and of quality assurance.
- Recommend and justify whether a given business should use quality control or quality assurance.
Related CIE 0264 Business topics
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